Only Ripples
by sentientInsanity
Summary: Eridan is the only successful test subject of the Aquatic Adaptation experiment, in which humans are operated on and given gills so that they can breathe underwater. When his sister Feferi nearly dies during the experiment, he makes up his mind to escape. EriSol eventually.
1. Chapter 1

Only Ripples Prologue

A/N: This was on AO3 for a while before I decided to transfer it here. Enjoy.

Eridan woke up as instantly as he had fallen asleep. Swimming up from the drug-induced haze, he struggled to recall exactly what had went on in the past 48 hours. A few details flashed in his mind like flickering strobe lights. The clack of green stiletto heels on the pavement outside the foster home where he lived with Feferi. The way the woman scooped his little sister up like a doll, looking her over like she was inspecting livestock, before smiling at her with a grin about as inviting as a crocodile's. How he was ushered into her car, his foster mother telling him that 'Snowman' was his 'new mommy' in the fake cheerful voice usually reserved for kittens and children that aren't old enough to write. The rest of it was lost in the haze of chemicals they had given him to sedate him.  
But apparently it wasn't enough. He felt a pain in his side, and another in his throat. He put his hand to his throat and felt a device there, filled with water. He tugged at it, but his hands were too small to remove it.  
"Don't struggle. You'll only make things worse for yourself." said the masked scientist, adjusting a dial on the tank filled with clear water. "You're the first success in our Aquatic Adaptation study."  
"Where am I? Where's Fef? Fef, where are you?" he yelled. He tried to sit up, but the intense pain in his side brought tears to his eyes and forced him to lie back down.  
"Relax, subject." said the scientist. "Your sister will be...fine."  
"Where is she?" Eridan tried- and failed- to sit up again.  
"Don't strain yourself." said the scientist.  
"Go to hell!" said Eridan, using the worst curse that he had in his seven-year-old vocabulary.  
The scientist clicked his tongue impatiently, looking towards the door. As if on cue, another scientist appeared in the doorway, clutching a stack of papers.  
"Is Fef okay?" Eridan asked, but the two scientists were already deep in conversation.  
"So Peixes didn't make it?" said the second scientist at last.  
"She's alive, but she has a better survival rate if she's kept underwater." The second scientist rifled through his files impatiently. "Our second test subject is definitely more of a successful experiment. We should keep him here in order to run more tests."  
Eridan's head seemed to fill with red smoke at the sight of these two men discussing him like he was their science fair project or something. He wanted to do something, do anything. But he realized later it would be a good 15 years before he would even leave the building.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I have five chapters already written. I'll post the next three tomorrow.

Feferi had gotten thinner since Eridan last saw her. She was still suspended in the small glass tank, a few wires attached to her wrists and neck, the paleness of her face and sharpness of her cheekbones making her large eyes look even wider.  
She turned to face him. Waved. Smiled.  
"They're not letting me see you anymore, Fef. I'm going to keep trying to get to you, but I don't know how I'll get out every day."  
Feferi just listened, her long fingers folded upon each other, watching him speak. He had realized that she couldn't hear him the first few times he spoke with her, but he kept visiting her anyway, in hopes that speaking with her would somehow help her recover.  
"They might be letting me outside, if everything goes all right." A lie, and they both knew it. Even if the scientists weren't worried about 15 years of research walking out the door, Eridan still looked different from most humans. Not only the gills, but later experiments in his teenage years had given him fins on his arms and along his back so that he would have an easier time swimming.  
He had tried to get out several times, despite that fact. The attempt at age 13 had left him with a shock collar around his neck for a month. However, after a while they had resorted to more effective methods.  
Eridan's fingers rested against his inner thigh as the thought crossed his mind, brushed across the tracking chip embedded in his flesh through the thin material of the hospital gown they made him wear. He shuddered, and an alarmed expression crossed Feferi's face. She pressed her hand against the glass, and he raised his own hand to meet her, only a thin pane of glass separating them.  
Never once had the thought crossed his mind that escape was hopeless, or that Feferi would never survive. He just wanted to hear his sister's voice again.


	3. Chapter 3

A\N: I'm going to post the next two chapters. I've been slacking, I apologize.

Sollux sipped his black coffee and glanced down at the traffic outside. He could see the left side of a window from his cramped cubicle, and through the filthy glass there was a view of gridlock and pedestrians.  
It was his first month working for Sburban Industries, and even though they were supposed to be top-tier in scientific development, he could tell that his employers had a few screws loose.  
For one thing, they would never tell him exactly what the company did. He had asked a total of two times and had gotten a total of two different answers. The second person he asked had gotten so mad at him that he learned never to ask again.  
So he continued shredding papers and getting coffee. He might be working among a building full of nut jobs, but if he stayed an employee there, he could find out what was going on someday.  
Wandering down the hallways with a full cardboard tray of expensive lattes, he was stopped in his tracks by a white-clad scientist in full uniform. Sburban had a ton of them wandering around the deeper parts of the building, although Sollux never was allowed to venture back there. He was little more than a secretary. After all, he had only been employed for a month, he was fresh out of college, and this was one of the biggest scientific testing companies in the country.  
"Hey. Shrimp. Are you allowed back here?" She pulled her mask down and smirked with blue lips.  
"Shrimp?" Sollux was a bit surprised. He was used to condescension, but the scientists usually left him alone.  
"Yeah. Ya gotta have a pass, kid." She raised one eyebrow behind prescription frames.  
The coffee was burning Sollux's hands through the thin cardboard tray, but by now he was curious. "Look, I just need to deliver these coffees. If I cut through here, I could probably be back up before they get cold."  
"Okay, I'll make a deal with you." she said, smirking. "I left my lottery numbers in room 3B. If you get those for me, I won't say you were back here." She tossed a card at him. He caught it, reading the name on it.  
"Vriska Serket."  
However, by the time he looked up, she had completely disappeared from the hallway, taking one of his espressos with her.

By some turn of events, Eridan had escaped the scientists yet again and was opting instead to listen in on them. He knelt next to the closed door, his ear fin next to his cupped hand, straining to pick up on their conversation.  
Normally he wouldn't bother. But this time it was different.  
This time they were talking about Feferi.  
"You're really going to remove her supports?" asked one scientist. By the higher pitch of her voice, Eridan guessed she was female. "But she's going to die! You know that. She has a weak respiratory system from all of the operations we did."  
"Then let her die." This man's voice said it so casually, but to Eridan it was like he had just force-fed him sandpaper. It was hard to process, and Eridan dug his fingernails into his thigh to keep himself from making any noise.  
"But you can't be serious, Dr. Slick." There was panic in her voice now, and Eridan could almost sympathize with her. Almost.  
"I mean what I say, Lalonde. She's draining our resources. Remove her supports or find a new job."  
There was the sound of a chair scraping on tile, and Eridan quickly moved, racing down the hallway. He knew there was only the option of escape now. He couldn't stick around to watch what they were doing to Feferi.  
He knew there were no exits down on this floor. But all of the higher floors were crawling with scientists. He might be able to go down the fire escape, if he could deal with whatever was outside...  
All of these thoughts were pounding around in his head as he turned the corner, searching for a way out. He barely even noticed that someone was in the hallway with him until they collided, Eridan falling back with a shocked expression and Sollux dropping his coffee and lottery numbers, staining his shoes.  
"What- I mean who- I mean- Fuck, what are they..." Sollux's mouth hung open. He took off his glasses, wiping them on his shirt, and put them back on as if this would make the situation any less startling.  
It didn't help when Eridan got to his feet and drew his fist back, punching Sollux hard in the face.


	4. Chapter 4

A\N: I may post another chapter today, I just need to finish the chapter I've been working on for ao3.

Anyway, this is sadstuck, and this is the first chapter where you'll see the beginnings of Eridan and Sollux interacting... so yea. enjoy.

Sollux reeled back, frantically clutching at his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. At that point, Eridan chose to aim for his gut, and he doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach. He took a few steps back, looking closely at his attacker. Eridan wore an oversized hospital gown that was tied around his waist, giving Sollux a full view of his bare chest. He was thin, almost painfully so, and had a pair of gills on either side of his body, as well as fins on his face, arms, and running up his back. But Sollux could tell he was human, and despite the blind rage he felt at being punched in the face, he felt a brief stab of pity. It was in this moment that he managed to find his words.  
"What the hell are you doing? I understand you've had a pretty fucked up life but lay off me. I just deliver coffee, I don't need this at this hour." He braced himself to be punched again, but Eridan spoke up.  
"You're not a scientist?"  
"No." Sollux said, smiling sarcastically. "I'm a secretary."  
Suddenly, footsteps were heard around the corner. Laughter. A voice called out, "Is that you making all that fuss, Shrimp? I'm going to need those lottery numbers."  
Eridan cursed out loud. "We need to get away. That's Vriska. If she catches me out here, she's going to..." Eridan visibly cringed, and Sollux nodded. After all, he couldn't just leave him here.  
"Got it. Follow me." Sollux led Eridan up to the elevator, where he slid a card through the slot, and a little less than 5 minutes later, the elevator slid into place with a whoosh of cold air, the doors sliding open. Eridan just stared at it, but Sollux grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him into the elevator, mashing the ground floor button before Vriska caught up to them.  
As the doors slid closed, Eridan looked at Sollux with a look of amazement. "She won't come after us." Sollux said with an air of finality.  
"Why not?" Eridan asked.  
Sollux held up Vriska's ID. "I have this." He turned to Eridan, extending his hand. "I'm Sollux Captor, by the way. I guess we didn't really have a chance to introduce ourselves."  
"I'm Eridan." Eridan stared at Sollux's hand for a couple seconds, unsure of what to do with it. Sollux put his hand back by his side as the elevator door slid open.  
They reached the ground floor and made a mad dash for the exit, Sollux pulling Eridan along with him, knowing very well that they were both at stake. Fortunately, the elevator was close to one of the exits used by the custodians, and they were able to make it into the street without anyone noticing.  
As they rushed along the alleyway into the street and turned the corner, Sollux noticed that quite a few heads turned and looked their way. After all, it wasn't every day that you saw someone with fins and gills half naked, running down the street. Eridan must have noticed this too, because he stopped in his tracks and stood in the middle of the road, his hand over his eyes, hyperventilating. Sollux barely managed to pull him into the middle section before the light turned green, then stood and planted his hands on Eridan's shoulders.  
"Look at me." he said. When Eridan didn't answer, he smacked him across the face. "Look at me, you pathetic sack of shit!" Sollux instantly regretted his words, but they seemed to snap him out of it.  
Eridan shoved Sollux hard and snarled. "I'm looking."  
Sollux sighed, unaffected by the shove. "Let's just get to the car, okay? We're going to get to the car, and deal with them later."  
"Get to the car." Eridan repeated. The sign turned again, signaling for them to walk, and they hurried across, Sollux still clasping Eridan's wrist.  
When they made it to the car, Sollux started up the engine and they took off. As they drove, Sollux noticed that Eridan had been clutching the dashboard, white knuckled, for the entire ride.  
"You've never been in a car before?" Sollux asked.  
Eridan nodded, looking over at him. Sollux then knew he hadn't even scratched the surface of what was going on at Sburban.  
Sollux pulled up in his driveway, unlocking the door to his apartment with a tarnished key. It was cramped, with barely enough room for one person, let alone two, but there was no other choice.  
"Sorry about the mess." Sollux admitted. "I didn't know I'd be rescuing a princess today."  
The reference wasn't lost on Eridan, who rolled his eyes visibly before stepping inside. Then he said "How long before you take me back?"  
Sollux hadn't thought about that. But he didn't want to bring Eridan back there. Looking at him in the halogen lighting of his apartment, he could see scars on his arms from where they had taken blood, and even bigger ones on his back from God knows what. He hesitated for a moment before saying finally, "I don't know, but I'm sure as hell not taking you back there. You can stay here. Just don't touch my computer, and don't break anything."  
It might not have been ideal conditions, but neither of them would have changed a thing.


	5. Chapter 5

Sollux tossed a clean shirt and a pair of boxers in Eridan's general direction without looking at him. Eridan barely managed to catch them with the tips of his fingers, then glanced back at Sollux.

"Put them on. I don't want you walking around my room half naked." Sollux said, jerking his thumb back at Eridan. He dug around in his bottom drawer, fished out a pair of sweatpants and tossed them at Eridan next. Eridan didn't manage to catch those, and they hit his face and landed on the floor.

"Well?" Sollux asked. Eridan's response was to drop his robes, standing naked in the middle of the room, and bend over, putting one leg through the boxers.

"OUT. Out. Out of my room. Change in the bathroom. Now." Sollux put one of his hands over his eyes, the other pointing towards the bathroom door, which stood ajar off to the side. Eridan gathered up the pile of clothes and made his way to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna order Chinese food." Sollux called from the other room. "What do you want?"  
"Whatever is fine." Eridan sat on the couch and idly played with a frayed thread on the armrest. He had never thought past making the first few steps out the door. Really, he was glad he had ended up this way.

He heard the electronic beeping noises of a phone being dialed and then Sollux muttered the order from the other room, a couple of foreign- sounding words that Eridan had never heard of. Eventually, Sollux hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm picking up the order. They don't deliver out of town." The door opened and he was gone.  
Sollux drove for a few minutes, listening to the rain hit the windshield. He hated it. He hated driving at night, in the rain, in traffic, when he was stuck behind 30 other cars with 30 other people who were probably all as pissed off as he was. He hated his job, too. Maybe he was just naturally resentful.

He reached the restaurant right as it began to pour. The neon sign glared big and bright, still visible. Sollux noticed they hadn't fixed the "A" that burned out 6 months ago.

His takeout wasn't ready, so he had to sit and wait in the crowded lobby area. He noticed someone then, sitting at a table for two. She looked extremely bored, and had barely touched her food, and was applying another coat of blue lipstick as her dinner date discussed the finer points of Con Air and why you should never drink apple juice if the seal is broken.

Sollux hoped that she wouldn't notice him. However, it was hard to act casual when Vriska Serket was only 20 feet away from you. She was going to see him sooner or later.  
And apparently she did. She said something quickly to her companion, then crossed the room to where Sollux sat. It was at that moment that he stopped wishing to become a lamp or some other unnoticeable item and wished instead to take control.

"Sorry," Vriska apologized. "John can be a bit booooooooring sometimes, but he makes up for it in other ways."

"You don't say." Sollux remarked, looking over at Vriska's scrawny boyfriend, who appeared to be building a small fort with the silverware.

"Yeah, you would never guess it. He is only in college." Vriska laughed a bit, then said "Do you have my key?"

Sollux frowned, fished around in his bag, and withdrew the small plastic card without a word.  
"And my lottery numbers?" She said something then about luck, the state lottery and the number 8, but Sollux barely heard her. He recalled exactly where they were- lying in a puddle of spilled coffee, somewhere in the basement of Sburban Enterprises. So he tried a different tactic.

"Have you ever won the lottery, Vriska?" he asked her.

"No, but tonight'll be my lucky night! I'll win all the prizes! All 8 million bucks! And then I'll go to Vegas, with John, and we'll play for real!"

"What if you don't win? What then?" Sollux asked, his temper rising higher. "What if you never win? Because the lottery's just a way for you to lose more money than you earn. And just because you never win your 8 million doesn't mean you have to be an enormous cunt about it."  
"Sollux!" Vriska cried, but they had called his order right on time.

"Later." Sollux said, flipping her off as he walked out the door.

Sollux instantly regretted what he had said to Vriska. Sure, it had gotten his ass off the hook, but it would come back with a vengeance the next day at work. Vriska was the type of person who liked to play mind games with her co-workers. He might just end up with poison in his coffee when he came into work on Thursday- that is, if he was even allowed back at all.  
He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, and unlocked the door, balancing the carton of Chinese food as he turned the knob. Eridan was asleep on the couch, his arm thrown over his eyes and his mouth wide open, somehow having managed to put his shirt on backwards and inside out.

"Hey sleeping beauty, rise and shine." Sollux announced. Eridan groaned and rubbed his neck, then moved his arm back over his eyes.

"Wake up." Sollux viciously jabbed him in the ribs with his free hand. Eridan jolted awake, his hand instantly shooting to his left side.

"Ow, Sol, you don't need to aim for my gills, show me a little fuckin courtesy." Eridan grumbled, swinging his legs off of the armrest and onto the carpet.

"It's 8 P.M. There's no need for you to be taking your beauty rest now. Besides, I have food." Sollux held up the bag, then headed over for the folding table.

Sollux set the bag down on the folding table and rummaged in it, setting paper cartons down on the wooden surface. He broke a pair of wooden sticks in half and tossed a pair over to Eridan, who did the same, then looked at them inquisitively. "How the hell am I supposed to eat with these?"

Sollux sat down at the table, digging into a carton of lo mein with his own pair. "It's easy."  
"Fine." He sighed and decided that holding one in each hand was the best plan of action. He grabbed a container of General Tso's and tried to grab a piece for about three minutes before giving up and stabbing one like a spear.

Sollux laughed behind his napkin. "They aren't weapons, idiot."

"Yeah, but it works." Eridan stabbed another piece, but by now he was laughing too.

"There are these things called forks. They're very useful for people who can't grasp the simple concept of eating with chopsticks." Sollux said as Eridan tried to scoop up lo mein with a single chopstick.

"Hey, if I said I got this, I got this." Eridan said, finally managing to get one noodle into his mouth.

"Whatever you say, jackass." Sollux said, finishing off the General Tso's with his own chopsticks.

This situation culminated in Eridan flipping Sollux off, storming into the kitchen, and rummaging in the drawers until he found any fork he could lay his hands on, all while making as much noise as possible.

"Are you finding a fork or trying to hide a body?" asked Sollux.

"Soon I'll be doin both." Eridan replied, held up a fork and returned to the table, where they ate in silence.

Sollux left Eridan behind to clean up and retreated to his room for some much needed Halo 3. He needed a distraction, and there was no better distraction than Halo. After all, Sollux didn't like bragging, but he was apeshit bananas at these kinds of games. He was simply the best there is.

He shot down another player from a balcony and heard them swear at him over his headset. He took aim at the second person on the field, but all of a sudden, he heard the unmistakable sound of something breaking from the kitchen.

"Insufferable shit muffins!" shouted a voice from the other room.

Eridan. Sollux quit his game and went to deal with the issue. There was broken glass all over the floor and Eridan was standing in the middle of it, clutching his hand.

"Well, don't just stand there. What, do you expect the tooth fairy to clean up this shit? What the fuck did you break? It's everywhere, look at it."

Sollux tossed the broom at Eridan. He caught it, his cut hand smearing dark red blood all over the handle. He began to clumsily sweep the glass into a small pile.

"Well? What did you break?" Sollux asked.

"Some cups."

"How many cups?" Sollux asked. "Three." Eridan admitted. By then the glass was all in a pile, but Eridan's cut hand was dripping all the way down to his wrist and there were a few drops on the floor as well.

"How the fuck do you break three cups? Were you trying to juggle them?" Sollux asked, cracking a smile.

"No, I was carrying them all at once. Why are you laughing at me?" Eridan asked.

"Whoa, fuck, did you cut yourself too?" Sollux said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch." Eridan said, but Sollux came over and took his hand, examining it.

"It doesn't seem too deep. I have some gauze in the bathroom, I could... Wait, your blood looks different to me." It was true, in the light his blood appeared to be tinged purple. "It's a different color. What are you, a smurf?"

Eridan sighed. "No, Sol, I'm an alien from planet fuckin Jupiter. You go back to whatever you were doin, I'll take care of this."

Sollux returned to his room, pretending he didn't notice the maroon fingerprint Eridan had left on the sleeve of his sweatshirt.


	6. Chapter 6

Sollux returned from work and found Eridan asleep on the couch yet again, this time clutching an ordinary kitchen lightbulb in his hands. For some reason this both amused and infuriated him, and he snatched the lightbulb out of Eridan's hands while also giving him another jab to the ribs.

Eridan was awake at once, but before he could protest, Sollux held up the lightbulb. "Where did you get this?"

"I dunno, they're lyin around everywhere."

"Well, put it back, jackass!" Sollux smacked him over the back of the head with the lightbulb and Eridan hurried to find which lamp he had taken it from.

When he had found the correct lamp and screwed it back in, Sollux called his attention yet again. "Get some new clothes on. This time get something with a hood, to put over your head. We're going outside."

"But why?" Eridan asked, confused.

"You need more life experiences then just sleeping and dismantling lamps." Sollux uttered. "Get a sweatshirt on. I'd like to get out of the house this decade, thank you."

But Eridan found a sweatshirt soon enough, and they were out the door in roughly 20 minutes. Walking down the street, Sollux managed to keep his eyes down and averted, but Eridan was looking everywhere, at the buildings, the cars, the people. It was hard to believe after all this time that these people didn't want to lash out at him as soon as look at him. Maybe if he didn't have his hood pulled over his head, and they could see the fins on his face and his gills, they would think of him a lot differently. Maybe then they wouldn't act so casually around him, treating him like just another animal in the concrete jungle. They would know he was different, experimental.

A monster, even.

"Hey, jackass, we're here." Sollux smacked him over the back of the head lightly, not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to get his attention. "Start paying attention for once."

"Agh. Stop. I'm paying attention."

"You were daydreaming, smartass. I'm going to need to get you a shock collar soon so you start listening to me." That earned Sollux a light punch to the arm, but Eridan's attempt was so weak that Sollux just laughed it off and ignored him completely. Eridan sat down on the park bench, stretching his legs out on the seat next to him. Sollux picked up his ankles and swung his legs down to the ground, then sat next to him. "If you fall asleep here, you could get arrested." Sollux announced to him. Eridan smiled a bit at his words, but Sollux said "I'm serious. Unless you want to be wearing handcuffs, don't fall asleep here."

Eridan nodded, and for a while they sat there, watching the crowds of people go by. Some were talking on their cellphones. Others were ripping up dried chunks of stale bread and feeding them to the fat pigeons that gathered in flocks around the park. A lesbian couple walked by holding hands, both of them laughing over a joke the taller girl had told.

"Meenah, let's get lemonade." said the other one, a petite brunette in a low-cut blue dress. "I'm kind of thirsty." They both approached the refreshment stand and got in line.

"Yeah, it's hotter than shell out here, I don't know how you can sand it." Meenah announced. The woman behind the counter at the refreshment stand gave her a sideways glance as she handed her the cups.

"Meenah, do you have to do that?" her girlfriend said as she returned bearing two paper cups of lemonade.

"Do what, Aranea?" Meenah asked.

"The fish pun thing. I mean, I know you work at an aquarium, but oh my cod, could you please tone it down?" Aranea asked.

Meenah took one of the cups of lemonade and began grinning. "See, now you're doing it too."

"I was no- wait, was I?"

Meenah's only response was to kiss her confused girlfriend on the lips and walk with her, taking their cups of lemonade back by where Eridan and Sollux were sitting, walking past them to a bench hidden by a cluster of trees.

Eridan didn't say anything, but he had a small smile on his face as he watched the two girls laughing and talking about college and Meenah's shitty job and B-rated movies and what it would be like to live underwater.

"What are you thinking about, Eridan?" Sollux asked.

"Those two." Eridan said, pointing. "I think that the girl with all of the piercings might be a bit like me. She keeps talking about livin underwater."

Sollux pinched the bridge of his nose. He realized Eridan still had a lot to learn, and was probably still getting over losing Fef. He was probably still seeking out someone who was like him, but Meenah wasn't that person.

"Eridan, I knew her in college. She's a lesbian. And they're probably just talking about living underwater because of Meenah's shitty job." Sollux said. Over on the adjacent bench, Aranea must have said something funny, because Meenah squealed and kissed her on the cheek, nearly spilling her half-full cup of lemonade.

"Oh, I know that." Eridan said. "It's obvious she's a lesbian, but I thought..."

"Yeah." Sollux said. "You're so dense sometimes, it's like rational thoughts from you are an endangered species." He stood up. "Let's go back."

Eridan walked back, still lost in thought. He knew that going out wouldn't necessarily mean finding people who understand him. If he had talked to those two girls, he might have learned more about them, maybe even after a couple of conversations revealed who he really was, but they seemed too interested in each other to care about striking up a conversation with a stranger.

They arrived at the apartment and unlocked the door, and Eridan sat on the old threadbare couch, unzipping his sweatshirt, taking the hood off. He rested his head in his hands and thought for a while.

He could only trust himself. Himself, and Fef... Where was Fef? Was she even still alive? Or had they already killed her, dragged her up from her tank, cut off her supports, and dissected her...

Eridan knew that that happened to all of the test subjects. All of them were eventually just cadavers to be dissected under harsh white lights, by nameless, faceless scientists with white gloves that eventually turned red...  
He buried his face in his hands, hiding his eyes, and swallowed hard, choking back the lump in his throat. It was too early in the day to cry.

[][][][][][]

"Where are you goin?" Eridan asked as Sollux put on his jacket and headed out the door.

"Out." Sollux said.

"Can I-"

"You're not coming with me." The door shut behind him, and Sollux headed out into the street.

He pushed open the bar door at 6 p.m. and Karkat was already at the bar waiting for him. Karkat looked like he'd gotten a head start on the drinks; his face was already tinged red and he was muttering obscenities about a woman who had just vacated the bar stool next to him.

"Hey, Karkat, what's wrong? Did she find her contact lens again and could finally tell the difference between your face and a bulldog's ass?" Sollux announced.

"Shut the fuck up, Sollux, you're not drunk enough to insult me yet." Karkat said, glaring at him. The bartender, sensing tension, poured them another round. She was cute, young, and curvy, with an ample bosom, and wore a knitted hat and a T-shirt with kitten paw prints and the logo of a local animal shelter.

Karkat noticed her and was about to strike up conversation, but then Sollux recognized who she was.

"Karkat, that's Nepeta Lejion." Sollux hissed.

Karkat shrugged. "So?"

"So. So her brother's that famous body builder, the one that can crush cinder blocks with his bare hands. You know Equius." Sollux announced. Karkat muttered something and turned away.

However, he must not have been too put off, because he was soon calling her over and ordering more shots. By closing time, Karkat was yelling at someone across the room to "dance properly, numbnuts, you look like you're trying to behead everyone on the floor with those windmill arms of yours," and Sollux was staring into an empty shot glass trying to stop the room from spinning and wishing for something (or someone) to hold on to. They were quickly rushed out the door and into the cabs that waited outside to pick up the drunk passengers.

Sollux stumbled into a taxi and sprawled out on the seat, fumbling with the seat belt before muttering "fuck it" to no one and letting it loop over one of his arms. The cab pulled up to his apartment and he practically tripped up the steps before he could regain his balance. Maybe he was more drunk than he thought.

He fumbled with the key and finally unlocked the door, stepping inside the darkened room to see Eridan suddenly sit up from his huddled position on Sollux's bed, wipe his eyes from behind his glasses, and mutter, "Back so soon, jackass?" But the insult wasn't convincing. It might have just been the booze talking, but Sollux could have sworn Eridan had genuinely missed him...

He crossed the room in three quick strides and enveloped Eridan in a hug, relaxing into his touch as Eridan slowly wrapped his arms around him. He pressed his lips to Eridan's forehead, and in that one moment, the room stopped spinning, the earth spun in the other direction, and Sollux found his center of gravity.

Okay, so maybe he had a bit too much to drink.

"Sol, what are you doin?" Eridan asked as Sollux drew back.

"Shhh- I'm... I'm here. Just... stay with me." Sollux slurred, his lisp even more prominent with his drunkenness. He buried his face in Eridan's shoulder, and Eridan could feel Sollux's teeth on his neck.

"Sol," Eridan warned, but his face was heating up from all this contact, and even then he wasn't sure if it was wanted. But when Sollux lifted his head to nip at one of Eridan's ear fins, he had to draw the line, that or lose control completely. "Sol, go to bed, you're drunk."

Sollux didn't respond at first, and Eridan had to place both of his hands on Sollux's chest and give him a good shove to snap him out of it. "Sol, you are DRUNK."

Sollux tumbled off of the bed and onto the floor, still blinking, dazed, at what had happened. Eridan chose that moment of confusion to move to the couch. "Good night, Sol." Eridan said.

But even after Sollux had drifted off to sleep, Eridan couldn't help but smile to himself.


	7. Chapter 7

Sollux woke the next morning feeling like his head was about to roll off his shoulders and implode. He also noticed that Eridan was already awake, and looking at him with something like a smirk on his face.

"Did you sleep well, Sol?" he asked.

"What?" Sollux snapped. "No, of course not. Can't you see that we've got a serious crisis going on right..."- he jabbed at his temples- "here?"

"Sucks for you." Eridan got up, rubbing his eyes, and crossed the room.

"Hey, did I say anything to you last night?" Sollux said as he poured some aspirin into his palm.

Eridan smiled a bit to himself. "Well, you were, ah, cryin and carryin on about someone that was goin to attack you. There was no one in the house, though, you were so drunk off your balls that you would attack anythin that moved, so I, Eridan Ampora, the mighty fuckin hero, saved you from all possible horrors, real or imagined..."

"Liar." Sollux muttered. But then again, maybe he wasn't lying. Sollux was so drunk he could have been fucking a lamp post and Eridan just wasn't telling him.  
But lamp post fornication aside, all of this idle talking had made him late for work. He barely had time to slip on his coat and head out the door.

As Sollux handed a stack of files to a tall, imposing blonde scientist with lipstick in such a dark shade it was almost black, she grabbed his wrist so violently that he was afraid he would drop the papers.

"A very important experiment is missing from our Aquatic Adaptation division. Do you have any idea where it might be, Sollux Captor?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am." he lied. "Maybe Vriska stole some chemicals from the lab to make crystal meth for her college boyfriend. I don't steal."

She smirked and dropped the tone at once. "Look, I don't like doing this as much as you do. It's not chemicals we're looking for either." Her face twisted into a frown and her eyes dropped to the floor. "Vriska told me you had her key. Right now you're our top suspect. We've searched the apartments of all of our other suspects and come up with nothing. The next step is to search your apartment."

The pit dropped out of Sollux's stomach and seemed to stretch into a chasm as Rose continued talking.

"Either that, or you can give us the experiment now. I don't want to tell you this, but it's orders from the head of the company himself."

"Head of the..." Sollux asked.

"Jack Noir. He's a genius, but that's the only good thing I can say about him. Sadistic, psychopathic, obsessed with the apocalypse... He would be experimenting on you if he had a reason to. I have enough good sense to know that the world isn't going to end, but him?" She shook her head. "I've told you enough. Either way, it's your job, and possibly your life. Would you really risk all that for an experiment?"

Sollux's mind flashed back to an image of Eridan, asleep, clutching a lightbulb in his hands, of all things.

"You know what? Yeah, I would. Because he's not just an experiment. Now take your files." Sollux shoved the files into Rose's hands and turned around, walking back down the hallway at top speed.

Sollux returned to work but there was a growing air of paranoia around everything that went on. Every time he handed files to a co-worker or a scientist, he thought in the back of his mind, 'they know.' He continued working at his cubicle, every so often glancing over his shoulder to make sure that no one approached him about searching his house... He had to do something about it, he just didn't know what yet...

Five o'clock. He shoved everything in his bag and headed out the door. He meant to drive right back to his house to tell Eridan the news, but he found himself at the local mall instead.

Of course. He had intended to get clothes for his guest a while ago, what better time to do it than now? He found himself buying more clothes than he had intended, several different hoodies and pairs of jeans as well as the largest pair of headphones he could find and, after a bit of hesitation, a couple bottles of hair dye in several different colors, blonde and dark brown and even purple. If he looked different it would be harder for them to identify him as their test subject, right? Sollux frowned at the bottle of purple dye before shoving it in his cart.  
"What's all that? Did you rob someone?" announced Eridan as Sollux arrived back at the apartment with the bags.

"No, jackass. It's for you. Now help me unload it or I'm dumping it all in the river." Sollux said, heaving the bag full of jeans onto the spot where Eridan had been sitting moments before. Maybe when shit blew over he could find Eridan a job, fake a resume, tell people he was a long lost relative or some shit that had moved in from Australia and he doesn't like to talk about what it was like there? What the hell, didn't spiders come out of the plumbing in Australia? Sollux didn't know, he'd never been there. Sollux watched Eridan heave two more bags out of the trunk and slam it shut, then they both made their way up the stairs.

They had found a place for most of the clothing, which miraculously seemed to fit him, when Sollux came across the headphones at the bottom of one of the bags, buried under the hair dye.

"Now, you're going to take these, and keep them on at all times to cover your fins. If anyone comes to the house from the lab, you are going to put them on, turn some music on from this-" Sollux tossed an old iPod with a cracked screen towards Eridan, "and act like you're either busy or looking for something or asleep. I'll feed them some bullshit story that you're my cousin visiting from Australia, i don't know..."

"Wait, hold on a second. Why would people from the lab come to our apartment, Sol? I thought you said they wouldn't come here, you're bein pretty fuckin paranoid right now." But Sollux could tell Eridan was a bit shaken, his hands were shaking ever so slightly as he cut open the packaging. As he made the last snip with the lethal-looking scissors, the blade slipped and made a shallow cut in his thumb. Two drops of maroon blood hit the couch cushion before he could get his finger into his mouth.

"One thing I've been meaning to ask," Sollux said as he brought over a box of bandages. "Your blood. Why is it that color?"

"Well," Eridan said, placing his hand, palm up, in Sollux's outstretched hand to allow him to bandage it, "since we're in such imminent fuckin danger i suppose i'll tell you. As part of my testin, they injected me with this chemical that was supposed to help me stay underwater longer."

Sollux nodded, wrapping the bandage tightly around his thumb. "But it was only a prototype, and it ended up makin me really sick. I was stumblin around the lab and throwin up for weeks." Eridan announced.

The bandage was on, but Sollux kept gripping Eridan's hand as he listened to the story. "And then when they tested my blood, it was this color. I still didn't know what happened, they wouldn't tell me, but it couldn't have been anythin else."  
He glanced at Sollux, then down at their joined hands. Sollux snatched his hands back so fast Eridan swore he heard a whip cracking.

"Just put the headphones on. Listen to some music." Sollux said. "I'll be in the other room."


	8. Chapter 8

It couldn't have been any later than 3 am when Sollux heard a violent pounding on his front door. He rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what could be making that noise, then it hit him like a plastic bag filled with cinder blocks.  
"Eridan! Eridan, wake up!" He shook Eridan, but Eridan only rolled over and shoved the pillow over his head.

"Open up!" called a commanding female voice. "I'm armed!"

Sollux peeked out of the peephole in the door and laughed under his breath. "You and what army, Vriska?"

There was the sound of a gunshot and Vriska kicked the door down from the outside. It fell with a resounding crash and the sound of splintering wood.  
"Did you just shoot out my lock?" Sollux asked.

"I think you should be more concerned with the fact that SHE HAS A GUN, SOL!" Eridan shouted.

Vriska entered the house with heavy footsteps, holding her gun steady, much to the surprise and panic of the house's two residents.

"Give me the test subject or I swear I will shoot." she announced, the cold wind whipping her lab coat back and the streetlight behind her casting shadows on her face.

Eridan managed to find Sollux's hand in the darkness. He grasped it and held it tight, the warmth of his hand oddly comforting in that situation, and Sollux knew that after that week, there was no way he could give him up.

"No." Sollux said, but his voice wavered a bit, and Eridan could tell he was thinking it over. Vriska aimed her gun, firing a warning shot over Sollux's head. It hit the lamp in the living room and shattered the bulb.

"No?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. She raised her weapon again. Eridan, shocked and confused over this turn of events, buried his head in Sollux's shoulder, hiding his face.

"I... I don't know." Sollux said, his eyes darting around the room, looking for a way out.

"Sol!" Eridan cried, shocked by his indecision.

"My life is on the line here, Eridan, I don't really know you and..." Sollux said, still a bit apprehensive.

"But Sol, did you know what they did to me there? I trust you completely, and you're going to give me back to them?" Eridan asked.

"Eridan, I..."

"Twenty seconds." Vriska announced.

"Sol..." Eridan said. "I'll go with them."

"Don't you dare, Eridan." Sollux said. "I'll find a way..."

"Five seconds." Vriska said.

And that's when Eridan took Sollux's face in his hands and kissed him. It was a quick kiss, full of desperation and fear, but Sollux relished in the utter raw feeling of those lips against his, knowing that they'd never see each other again.

Eridan stood up. "I'll go." He slowly walked up to where Vriska stood in the open doorway, and Sollux watched him, wondering why everything had to be so slow...

Vriska put her gun away. "Good boy."

And that was when the shit hit the fan.

Eridan lunged at Vriska, punching her hard in the face, causing her to reel backwards and smash into the coffee table. "You little shit." she snarled.

He advanced, grabbing for her gun, and got his hand around the smooth surface of the handle. Vriska grabbed for it as well as he was pulling it out of the holster, and for a while they were playing a sort of macabre tug-of-war with the gun.

Vriska curled her finger around the trigger then, and a shot was fired. Vriska jumped in surprise, and Eridan used this opening to tug the gun from her hands and press the barrel against her chest. His hands trembled, and he looked to Sollux, questioning what to do.

But when his eyes found him in the dark, he saw him slumped over, clutching his gut, blood staining his t-shirt.

Anger flared up in the pit of Eridan's stomach, and he swallowed hard and pulled the trigger.


	9. Chapter 9

Eridan rushed to Sollux's side at once, cradling his injured body in his arms. He held Sollux to him, feeling for a pulse, breath, anything to prove he was alive. It was a few seconds of momentary panic before he felt the faint flutter of Sollux's pulse, beating irregularly, but still there.

"C-call 911..." Sollux breathed against Eridan's chest. Eridan found the phone, still lying on the side table, and shakily dialed the number, giving all of the information that he could. Shortly afterwards the ambulances arrived and took Sollux's vitals, then strapped him into a gurney and bundled him into the back of the van, taking him and Vriska away, leaving Eridan alone in the house.

After a few minutes of thinking, Eridan began to panic. He had killed someone. He had shot a scientist from his facility in cold blood. But then he recalled the number of times Vriska had slipped sedatives in his food('it shuts those damn things up', he had overheard her saying to another scientist). Vriska also worked the night shift and tended to wake up the different subjects, whether it was time for testing or not.

No, Eridan decided, he was not sorry.

But then there was the matter of Sollux, who got shot without them even meaning to injure him. Eridan knew he wasn't going to let him die. The hospital was going to take care of him, but he somehow wanted to be there for him. He knew the hospital was far, farther than he could walk during the night. His eyes fell on Sollux's car keys, but that was a ridiculous idea, he couldn't drive, and since it was pouring rain he would definitely get into an accident. He decided to call a cab, and against his better judgement he grabbed Sollux's wallet, picked up his cell phone, slipped the oversized headphones over his head, and stepped out into the hall to make his call.

He arrived at the hospital about 20 minutes later to find Sollux already there, his shirt off and his wound completely bandaged, lying in a hospital bed. His head turned when Eridan entered the room. Almost instantly he was looking at him with an almost disdainful expression, as if he disproved of what Eridan had did.

"Sol, I'm here." Eridan said.

"You didn't shoot me, did you?" asked Sollux, and Eridan stopped in his tracks, because truthfully, he wasn't sure. The gun had been fought over so fervently that Eridan didn't know whose finger pulled the trigger at the time.

"I don't... Sol, I..." Eridan said, tripping over his words as Sol looked at him expectantly.

"What happened to Vriska? The doctors said she was DOA." Sollux asked.

"I shot her." Eridan said, swallowing hard to clear the lump in his throat.

There was silence for a few seconds before Sollux said, "They're going to find out, you know. They'll find out that you killed someone if you don't run away."

"Will you come with me?" asked Eridan. "Just the fact that you're with me makes you on Sburban's wanted list. And if they take me in, chances are they'll do somethin to you as well."

Sollux hesitated for a moment. He didn't know what was making him consider it. There had to be something about Eridan that had made him consider giving him shelter, though, and something about him that made him consider letting him in even more. And now the once-confident Eridan Ampora had been reduced to a stuttering mess in front of him. He had to be insane to consider running away with him, but he was considering it.

"You're saying we're both fugitives?" Sollux finally asked.

Eridan nodded, his lips pressed together in a thin line, still staring at the bandages wound around Sollux's slender torso, concealing a wound that he possibly caused.

"I'm guessing this is the only option." Sollux admitted.

Eridan sighed. "When do we leave?"

"Give me some time to rest." Sollux said. "I've had a long day, and listening to you talk will only make things worse."

Eridan sat on the edge of his bed. "So I guess I'll be joinin you, then?"

Sollux merely smiled, nodding, as Eridan lay down in the bed next to him, cautiously, as if he was afraid he would injure Sollux even more. Sollux wrapped his arms around Eridan's back, leaning into him and falling asleep almost instantly, exhausted by the day's events. Eridan stayed awake, however, thinking about the future and how they would survive.


	10. Chapter 10

Sollux expected to have a restless night, but he had never slept better in his life. He woke up to the sound of Eridan's voice and the unmistakable feeling of his arm being put to sleep, seeing as it had been trapped underneath Eridan's shoulder the entire night.

"Sol? Wake up. We have to go." Somehow during the night, Eridan had turned to face him and was rubbing his shoulder, trying to wake him. Sollux buried his face in Eridan's chest, hiding his face from the sunlight.

"Jackass, it's 6 in the morning. Why aren't you asleep right now?" Sollux groaned.

"Actually, I haven't been asleep all night. I was too worried." he admitted. That jolted Sollux out of his sleep at once, and he looked up at Eridan, slightly alarmed. Eridan's hair, which he normally kept relatively neat, was sticking up everywhere, and the purple stripe he had put in mere hours before the attack had a few strands that were standing straight up from static cling. Along with the wide-eyed stare he was giving Sollux, it gave him the appearance of some sort of tropical fish.

"Nice bed-head, loser." Sollux replied, laughing, and reached up to mess Eridan's hair up even more.

"Stop that, you dickhead." Eridan said, grabbing his hand and pinning him to the bed. Now he was fully straddling Sollux's waist, pinning his arms above his head. He gave a small smile. "Now who's laughing?"

"I'm injured, asshole." Sollux said, but he was still smirking defiantly, staring up at Eridan's face, which was still mere inches from his own.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment, looking at Sollux's face. Even though he held the same sarcastic smirk, Sollux looked a bit pissed off from being held captive like that, and was maybe even pouting a little, his face tinged a light pink. Eridan chose that moment to close the distance between them, capturing Sollux's lips in a heated kiss that lasted for several seconds. Sollux ran his tongue across Eridan's bottom lip, twisting against his grip, grinding his hips against him so that Eridan could feel his erection. Eridan noticed for sure, but chose not to do anything about it at the moment, even though its very presence was driving both of them insane.

Eridan trailed a set of sloppy kisses down Sollux's jawline, nipping at his collarbone and running his tongue across the skin there. He began to trail kisses down Sollux's chest, but before he reached his lower abdomen, Sollux pushed up on his shoulders, stopping him from going further.

Eridan looked up. Sollux was breathing heavy, his face even redder than before, but he had an unusual look on his face.

"Eridan, how far are we going to go?" he asked.

"Sol, it's all right if you want to stop." Eridan said. "But you've done so much for me, and I just wanted to do this for you." He placed the palm of his hand on Sollux's inner thigh, emphasizing his point.

Sollux could feel Eridan's hand on his thigh, the heat of his palm burning through the fabric of his jeans, and it sent electricity running through him. He nodded. "Go ahead."

Eridan unzipped Sollux's jeans and eased the waistband of his boxers down, freeing his erection. He slid his hand up and down the shaft, leaning forward to press his tongue against the tip before taking it into his mouth. Sollux groaned loudly as Eridan took even more of the length in. He watched in fascination, one hand reaching down to play with Eridan's hair, every once in a while tipping his head back with a moan when Eridan's tongue swiped over him in a way that felt particularly good.

Before long, Sollux could feel himself giving in completely, and he was losing his mind, and he clutched the white bedsheets to ground himself somehow while this was taking place. Eridan kept his lips latched onto Sollux's cock the entire time, sucking until Sollux had completely finished. Sollux looked at him in amazement as he spat into the trash and then glanced back at him, smirking, brushing a bit of hair out of his eyes.

"Woah, where did you learn how to do that?" asked Sollux, who was probably grinning like an idiot in the wake of his post-orgasm glow.  
"I know a lot of things, Sol," he answered, and Sollux decided it would be best to find out what they were on his own time.

[][][][][][]

The two of them returned to their apartment at once to find two police cars already parked outside. It was expected, but it was still a shock for them to see it. Eridan swore under his breath.

"Hold on, Eridan, I'm going to try and see if I can make it up the fire escape and get some stuff for our trip." Before Eridan could protest, Sollux had already made it up most of the way and climbed through the window.

The police had barely touched the inside of the apartment yet besides a bit of tape near the door. Sollux assumed that all of their belongings were where they used to be. He had no problem stuffing a duffel bag full of his and Eridan's clothes and other items. Sollux peeked out of the fire escape where Eridan stood below him, waiting.

"Can you catch this?" he asked. Eridan shrugged, and Sollux lowered the luggage and dropped it into Eridan's arms before climbing down the fire escape.  
They ran to the front of the building and around to the car, avoiding the cops. Before Sollux got into the front of the car, he handed Eridan what looked like a switchblade.

"Arm yourself." he said. "You can never be too careful." Eridan took the time to slip it into his boot before they climbed into the car. He couldn't tell, but he thought he saw the barrel of Vriska's gun sticking out of the luggage.

[][][][][][]

They had driven for hours through three states, and they were still unsure of what to do. Eridan had the idea of getting out of the country, but Sollux thought just getting somewhere as far as California would be useful. By then, it was dark, and Eridan had fallen asleep on Sollux's shoulder, the gentle presence of his head resting there oddly comforting as Sollux drove.

Another hour, and it was so late that Sollux didn't even know what state they were in. He briefly envied Eridan for being able to sleep so casually. It didn't help that it had started to rain softly, making it near impossible to drive. He saw something off to the side that caught his eye, something that stood apart from the endless stretches of country road and pouring rain. An abandoned farmhouse. It looked to just be used for storage, and it still had bales of damp hay in it. But Sollux didn't think he could drive any more in the rain. He pulled off to the side of the road.

Eridan noticed this change in movement and lifted his head off Sollux's shoulder, rubbing his tired eyes.  
"Bring a jacket. I found shelter. It isn't much, but it'll do." Sollux shrugged and the two of them ran through the raindrops until they reached the shelter of the farmhouse.

It was definitely abandoned, and hadn't been touched in a while. Sollux moved some of the bales of hay to make room for himself and Eridan to lie down. Eridan lay one of his jackets on the floor and lay on his back on top of it. Sollux opted against the idea of using a jacket and instead lay down on top of Eridan, laying his head on Eridan's chest and wrapping his arms around his neck.

"Hey, jackass." Sollux finally said, breaking the silence after a while. "How long are we going to run away?"

"I don't know." Eridan said.

"And what are we going to do if we're discovered?" he asked. "Do we just give up? Turn ourselves in? Start again?"

"I don't think it matters." Eridan said. "I just don't want them to separate us."

Sollux gripped him tightly, and it was holding each other just like that that they finally fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Sollux swore he saw flashing lights behind his closed eyelids. He wanted to go back to sleep, but a nagging voice in the back of his mind kept telling him to wake up, to get Eridan out of there, to keep driving. Eridan still slept peacefully underneath him, unaware of Sollux's internal monologue. Finally, those doubts won over, and Sollux sat up, pushing himself off of Eridan into a sitting position, still straddling his waist. Eridan groaned and shifted position, half asleep, his hands reaching out for Sollux's warmth.

"Eridan. Eridan. Wake up." Sollux shook his shoulder. Eridan groaned, opening his eyes partially, but was still unresponsive. Sollux responded by jabbing him in the ribs, right above his gills, following this with a long kiss, until he was sure Eridan was awake.

"Wow, Sol. Talk about a wakeup call." Eridan tried to push Sollux off of him, but Sollux stayed where he was, staring at the small sliver of light in the doorway, where the flashing lights had come from. The light was steady now, but Sollux was still apprehensive.

"What are you thinkin about, Sol?" Eridan asked. Sollux got up from his position on top of Eridan, pulling Eridan to his feet as well.

"Eridan, I don't think we're alone here." he said, his eyes still trained on the door.

"Who do you think would follow us here? We're in the middle a fuckin nowhere!" Eridan announced, but he was obviously alarmed. He pulled his jacket on and gripped Sollux's hand, pulling him towards the door. He threw the door open, and they were greeted by the sight of three police cars, led by one normal-looking convertible, painted a luminous dark green.

The green car looked normal to Sollux, but when Eridan saw it, he gripped Sollux's hand even tighter, biting his lip nervously.

"Sol, that's her car." Eridan said. "Snowman. I haven't seen her after all these years. This must be serious. We have to get out of here." He tugged on Sollux's hand, but froze when the car door opened, revealing a slender leg with a green stiletto heel.

Snowman was older than when Eridan had last seen her, but she still carried that same menacing expression, her dark hair pulled up in a ponytail and wielding a pistol.

"So you thought you could run away from me, boy?" she asked.

"I am runnin away, and you aren't goin to stop me, Snowman." Eridan said, but his hand trembled in Sollux's grasp.

"I'd prefer that you call me Mom." she said. Sollux looked at Eridan in alarm, expecting an explanation for this. But Eridan couldn't provide one, at least, not before the police advanced on them.

An officer hit Sollux in the leg with a taser, and he went down at once, letting go of Eridan's hand just in time. When the electric current was turned off, he had just enough time to choke out "Run!"

"I'm not leavin you, Sol!" Eridan announced.

"Run, you idiot!" Sollux yelled as he was tased again, this time at a higher voltage. He screamed in agony at the feeling of electricity running through his body, and Eridan, who had gotten halfway to the car, couldn't help but turn around. He watched Sollux being dragged into the police car, his entire body gone limp from the shocks.

Eridan ran towards him, but Snowman stepped into his path.

"Now, now, Eridan." she said, lighting up a fresh cigarette. Eridan didn't recall her as being a smoker. Maybe she had picked up the habit in the years that she had been absent from him. "Why don't you get in the car and we can talk?"

"No. What are you doing to Sollux, you cunt?" Eridan asked. Behind her, all but one of the police cars were driving away, leaving the one with Sollux.

Something flashed in Snowman's dark eyes, a flare of anger perhaps. She took her cigarette from her mouth and held it between two fingers, the burning end pointing towards Eridan.

"He's still here. You should be worrying about yourself more." With a flash, Snowman drove the lit end of the cigarette forward, putting it out on Eridan's forehead. Eridan clapped his hand over his mouth, muffling his cries of pain. "Get in the car."

Eridan got in the car.

They were completely silent the entire way back to Sburban. When they reached the facility, Eridan was taken down several flights of stairs to a set of sterilized white rooms with bars on the windows and doors. There was a wide bench off to the side, where someone already slumped against the wall. Sollux.

Eridan was shoved into the room and the door was slammed immediately, but he was by Sollux's side in an instant. He knelt next to him, embracing him, pulling him close.

"You idiot." Sollux muttered into his shoulder. "I told you to run."

"I couldn't do it." Eridan said. "Not while you were bein attacked." He pressed his lips against Sollux's forehead, then both of his eyelids. Tilting Sollux's head back, he kissed him on the mouth, brushing his lips against Sollux's softly, as if he was afraid he would damage him more.

He unzipped Sollux's filthy sweatshirt and kissed his jawbone, moving down to press a soft kiss where his neck meets his shoulder. Sollux slipped the sweatshirt off completely, and it fell to the floor. Eridan pushed Sollux's T-shirt up to his neck, showering his chest with kisses. When he reached his lower stomach, Sollux held out a hand to stop him, pushing back on his hair.

"I'm not ready for sex, idiot. I'm exhausted."

"This isn't about sex, Sol." Eridan said, crawling upwards to kiss Sollux on the lips.

"Sure looks like it." Sollux replied.

"You've been injured so many times, and it was all because I was with you." Eridan said. "This is my way of sayin that I wish I could heal all of your wounds."

"Don't feel guilty, Eridan." Sollux said. "You weren't the one who did this to me."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean it's not my fault." Eridan leaned forward, pressing a sloppy kiss to the side of Sollux's mouth. "You've protected me for so long. Now it's my turn to protect you."

He silenced Sollux's words of protest with another long, slow kiss, kissing him until every part of him felt like it would break apart from the needing. His heart trembled in his chest and his hands began to roam around Eridan's body, settling on his strong shoulders. Finally, they broke apart, and Eridan lay his head on Sollux's shoulder, lying there on the bench, not daring to say a word.

They lay there until a guard broke into the room without knocking, startling them, and began shouting at them, mostly obscenities, but they got the picture.

"I think they want us to get out." Eridan said as he got up, rubbing his eyes. Sollux nodded.

They were ushered out, handcuffs slapped on their wrists, and dragged down the hallway to a large office, where the handcuffs were removed. The office was oval-shaped, with the far wall being made entirely of glass paneling overlooking the ocean. It appeared to be built on a cliff overlooking the water. This must be a different building, Sollux thought. My job was nowhere near the ocean.

They both got a good look at the head of Sburban at once. He was tall, with short, dark hair, dark skin, and wore a suit with a green tie. One of his eyes was blue, but the other one appeared to be blind; it was clouded over with a scar running through it.

"So I guess you've figured out why you're here." he said.

"No." Eridan said.

"No, what?" asked Noir, one of his hands reaching under his desk.

"No-" Eridan started, his voice becoming angry, but Sollux interrupted him.

"No, sir."

"Very good. Now, on to why we're here." he said. "I see you've found one of my test subjects, Mr. Captor. Have you been taking good care of him?"

Sollux nodded. Noir began again, "You see, these subjects weren't only for show. They're trained to fight in the event of an apocalypse or something similar to that. Your test subject was part of the Aquatic Adaptation Program, which allows the test subjects to breathe underwater and swim for long distances. This, of course, would help in several scenarios, in case the earth was flooded, or if-"

"What if the world doesn't end?" asked Eridan. "Would it all be for nothing? Me, and my sister, and everyone else... Would it all be useless?"

"Of course not." he answered. "You would be a big step forward for science. Not many people have survived this kind of DNA implant treatment, and it'll all pay off when you're dissected."

"What do you mean, dissected?" asked Sollux. "Are you going to run more tests on him after all this?" Beside him, he noticed Eridan's hands shaking, and he grabbed one of them to hold him steady.

"Of course not." said Noir. "After he's escaped, he's proved too dangerous to be kept as a test subject any more. We're going to move straight to the dissection process."

Right on cue, the guards moved from the doorway and began advancing on them. Sollux began to panic, but Eridan simply leaned close and whispered "I have an idea."

He pulled Sollux further into the room, avoiding the guards, and they both ran towards the glass window as the guards pulled their weapons out, firing a few shots. Eridan kicked it as hard as he could, shattering it, and without hesitation they both jumped through the window into the sea.


	12. Chapter 12

They landed in the ice cold water with a massive splash, with Sollux still gripping Eridan's hand tightly. The chill of the water was like icy hands slowly crushing Sollux's chest, and he instantly began to flail around, but Eridan swam over to him, noticing his distress, and wrapped his arm around Sollux's chest, pulling him close and steadying him.

"Relax, Sol." Eridan breathed. "I'm going to try to get us to that island over there." He gestured at a small outcrop of land in the middle of the ocean a long ways out. It seemed to have a cave, and was surrounded by rocks, but not much greenery, and it was very small. But they would escape detection there. "Don't struggle and we can get over there safely." He started to swim.

All the time that Eridan was swimming, he had Sollux held tightly to his side and was very careful to keep his head above water. Sollux was too focused on not drowning to notice Eridan for the first few meters, but then he happened to look over. Eridan's face was set in a determined expression. His bicolored hair, which had been unkempt moments before, was slicked back from the speed he was moving. His clothes, wet from the ice-cold salt water, were sticking to his powerful body, leaving nothing to Sollux's imagination. Sollux could feel him move with each stroke through the water, and he gripped Eridan's waist even tighter.

They climbed up on the rocky beach within minutes, Eridan helping Sollux up onto the sand. They instantly made their way to the cave in the center, climbing over rocks until they reached its jagged mouth.

Eridan sat cross-legged on the ground, peeling off layers of clothing until he sat in only his boxers. Sollux huddled against the far wall, still fully clothed.

Eridan crawled over to him and sat next to him, then began to tug at his shirt, trying to rip it off of him.

"Come onnn, Sol! You can't dry your clothes if you're still wearin them!" he announced, amidst Sollux's sounds of protest. Finally, he managed to get Sollux's shirt off of his body, and was about to tackle him to the ground, but Sollux stopped him.

"You're forgetting that I'm injured, Eridan. I've been injured all this time. I'm surprised that I'm still alive." Sollux admitted.

"Now, don't say that, Sol." Eridan said. "I'm going to try to keep you alive, okay?"

Eridan kissed his collarbone, still slick with ocean water, and as Sollux dipped his head back for easier access to his sensitive skin, Eridan began moving lower, kissing his way down until he planted a kiss right over the scar where Sollux had been shot.

Sollux's breathing began to speed up when Eridan slid his hand over the underside of Sollux's thigh, then moved closer to pull him into his lap. They were both hard.

Eridan unzipped Sollux's pants clumsily, freeing his erection, then eased his own out of his boxers. He pulled Sollux closer, gripping both of their cocks in his hand, pressing his lips against Sollux's in a violent, passionate kiss.

Sollux placed his hand over Eridan's as he stroked harder, moaning against his lips. Eridan tipped his head back as he came first, letting out a low groan, and Sollux buried his face in Eridan's collarbone, moaning loudly as he released as well.

Sollux kept his head nestled in Eridan's collarbone, panting, as they slowly returned from their post-orgasm high. Finally, after a few moments, Eridan had the sense to carry Sollux to the water where they could clean up.

Eridan had left Sollux alone in the cave to get food for the two of them, and after a half-hour he returned, bearing plastic grocery bags full of snacks.

"They didn't even notice when I took them!" he announced.

"You're shoplifting too, you idiot?" Sollux asked. His boyfriend was going to rack up the biggest criminal record in history.

"Well, we don't have any money with us, do we? Now shut up and eat." he said.

"That's true..." Sollux admitted. They opened the bags. There were bags of chips and cans of peaches and plastic bags full of cookies. He had been sure to choose things that wouldn't be ruined by the water, even though he had tried to keep the bags above water while he was swimming.

"Well, when are we going to move out?" asked Sollux, opening a Fritos bag.

"Whenever you're healed." Eridan admitted. "And whenever we think it's safe. We don't want people chasin our asses."

"You're right." said Sollux, reaching into the bag. "We'd better just take cover for a while. No sense rushing into danger."

Eridan nodded, glancing off into the distance where the setting sun was just visible above the horizon.


End file.
